Before Aquino term ends resolution of MRT common station dispute urged

MANILA, Philippines - The aggrieved party in the controversial common station project that would link the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 and Metro Rail Transit (MRT) hopes the issue would finally be resolved before the end of the Aquino administration.

“We hope it will be (finalized) before the end of the Aquino administration because if not, we will start over again,” said SM Prime Holdings president Hans Sy.

I don’t want it to be like the NAIA 3,” he added, pertaining to the airport terminal where the government and the private contractor are having an ongoing legal tussle.

The common station is supposed to link three major railway lines, specifically the Light Rail Transit Line 1, the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 and eventually MRT-7.

Sy is pertaining to the draft agreement agreement crafted by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) last year, which proposed the construction of two stations, instead of one.

The two stations will be based near the Ayala-owned TriNoma Mall and SM North EDSA. The former will connect LRT Line 1 and MRT-3, while the latter will bridge the MRT-3 and MRT-7, with the option to connect LRT-1.

“We’re getting there. We’re talking. There are still some things to clarify but we’re open,” Sy said.

“We’re not really fixed on this or that. We want whatever is good for the economy, for the government and for the public. We’re open to the idea of two stations. We just have to make sure everything is clear,” he explained.

The agreement was crafted after SM secured a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court, preventing a DOTC plan to move the common station to the Ayala-led mall.

In its petition, SM cited the existence of a 2009 contract between the firm and the Light Rail Transit Authority, then the operator of LRT-1, that stipulates the station will be put up near SM North EDSA.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya earlier said that as soon as SM approves the compromise agreement, it would be brought to the high tribunal in order for the TRO to be lifted.

Meanwhile, the new operators of the LRT-1 and MRT-7 – the Light Rail Manila Consortium (LRMC) and Universal LRT Corp. (ULC) – have agreed, in principle, to the two common stations proposal, DOTC officials have said.

LRMC is composed of Ayala Corp. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. It won the P65 billion LRT-1 Cavite Extension Project and the right to design the first common stationnear Trinoma Mall under the concession.

San Miguel Holdings’ ULC, meanwhile, holds the concession for the planned P63 billion MRT-7 running from North Avenue in Quezon City to San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

The lifting of the TRO would enable ULC to start working on MRT-7. It has until February 2016 to complete the financial closing of the project. Otherwise, it would have to go back to the Investment Coordination Committee for another review.